Review Article
A New Resonance 2: Emerging Voices in English Language Haiku edited by Jim Kacian and Dee Evetts
A New Resonance 2: Emerging Voices in English Language Haiku edited by Jim Kacian and Dee Evetts, Red Moon Press, POBox 2461, Winchester VA, 22504-1661, USA ISBN 1-893959-20-1 $14.95 (Postage extra)
It is generally safe to assume that any haiku anthology will almost certainly irritate, offend or totally infuriate somebody out there - be it reader, contributor or would-be contributor who failed to make it. If an anthology presents a large number of poets but rations them to one or two haiku each you can be sure the editor(s) will be taken to task for choosing too many pieces which are either bland, boring and quite unrepresentative of the poet concerned or else have already been anthologised so often that by now readers will have reached the point of safety. On the other hand, if a book offers an especially generous selection of haiku but thereby has to strictly limit the number of poets contributing, this will inevitably provoke some indignation over the omission of particular writers whom we regard as leading exponents of the genre. And as for those anthologies in which some contributors are represented by just one poem apiece while others wallow in an allocation of 30 to 40 or even more - well, if that doesn’t result in a flurry of snide comments about editorial bias, or even nepotism, then I don’t know what will!
So, how do the editors of A New Resonance 2 come out in all this? In fact, not totally unscathed at least with only superficial injuries! Their policy of presenting an equal and reasonably representative number of poems (15) from each of the 17 writers means that the book virtually consists of a series of mini-collections - and this no doubt pretty satisfactory for everybody concerned. The editors have also theoretically forestalled any complaints about ‘glaring omissions’ among the featured poets by confining the line-up to those they have themselves already labelled ‘emerging’ voices. However, if we accept the dictionary definition of ‘emerging’ as ‘coming into view, as from concealment or obscurity’, I would contend that a goodly number of these contributors have, in fact, long since completed their emergence and thus have been in full view for quite a while...
Only two of the 17 poets are non-US residents, which might sugges - wrongly, of course - that there is a scarcity of emerging haiku voices elsewhere in the English-speaking world. However, I do not consider this perceived American bias a matter of great concern; it seems understandable that the emphasis should be on ‘homegrown’ writers when the readership will inevitably be largely American. Much the same principle would be apparent, I feel sure, in a British anthology of a similar nature.
Minor quibbles, if there be any, are more than outweighed by the sheer enjoyment to be had from this handsomely-produced volume - the second ‘emerging voices’ selection from the Red Moon Press.
There are 176 pages, one to three haiku/senryu to a page; each of the 17 sections opens with a photograph of the featured poet, his/her date and place of birth, current place of residence, a general comment paragraph by the editors (called ‘credits’) and then the selection of 15 poems.
The two non-Americans are both names well known to British readers - Matt Morden and the late John Crook. All but three of the former’s contributions are rather surprisingly previously unpublished. Both are represented by a strong and pleasing choice of work.
Remembrance - the thin sound of a bugle wavers in the rain John Crook |
a child’s painting bleeds into itself summer rain Matt Morden |
The poems range from competent, if unsurprising, to the richly evocative, bordering on the truly memorable. Here are four which might help to give some ‘feel’ of the volume.
Mid-day heat chicken fat gleams on the kitchen knife Rebecca Lilly leaving the porch my shadow enlarging into night William Ramsey |
brushing her horse the young girl’s hair back and forth WFOwen not knowing their names not wanting to ... a day of tall trees Robert Kusch |
Verdict: An excellent anthology, highly recommended.
Page(s) 65-66
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